Contrary to the widely-held belief that file-sharing is mainly used by
cash-strapped high-school and college students, post-collegiate adults also
report sampling this often, "technologically-cumbersome activity," says a
new report

About one-fifth (19%) of the American population aged 12 and over have
downloaded music or mp3 files from an online file-sharing service, and this
translates into over 40 million users within the current US population (as
per 2000 US Census figures) says Ipsos-Reid in its quarterly TEMPO report,
'Keeping Pace with Online Music Distribution,' going on.

"This number is nearly equal to the proportion of Americans who indicated
they had downloaded a music or MP3 from any website in December of 2001 (23%
of Americans aged 12 and over).

"Two-fifths of 12-24-year-olds have downloaded music or MP3 files from an
online file-sharing service (41% of 12-17 year-olds, and 45% in the 18-24
age group)," it says. ON "cash-strapped" versus "post-collegiate," it says,
"26% of those between the ages of 25-34, and 14% of those aged 35 to 54
reporting having downloaded music or MP3 files from an online file-sharing
service.

"In addition, American males are significantly more likely than their female
counterparts to have engaged in online file-sharing nationwide, as
one-quarter (25%) of U.S. men over the ages of 12 report having engaged in
this activity, compared to only 14% of American women."

Another nemesis of the music industry is the proliferation of CD-R's and
CD-Burners, Ipsos-Reid goes on.

"As PC manufacturers are more and more vocal in promoting music-focused PC
packages bundling CD-R drives, soundcards, and speakers together with
consumer-friendly software interfaces, Americans are clearly beginning to
recognize the inherent music capabilities today's PCs offer," says the
company's Matt Kleinschmit.

"While the goal of this wave of TEMPO was not to draw a link between
file-sharing, CD-Burners, and the slump in music sales, we can see that
American music enthusiasts are becoming increasingly acquainted with the
flexibility that digital music allows, and as a result, may be more apt to
venture beyond the traditional channels of music distribution as a part of
their audio behaviors."